Brandon v. Guilford Cnty. Bd. of Elections

Congress authorized district courts to award attorney's fees to prevailing civil rights plaintiffs under 42 U.S.C. § 1988 . But in doing so, Congress did not mandate fee awards in every case. Rather, Section 1988(b) provides that "the court, in its discretion , may allow the prevailing party ... a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs." (emphasis added). This unambiguous delegation of authority requires us to give the district judge-the person most closely attuned to the facts-at least a modicum of discretion to decide whether to award fees.

Here, the district court scrutinized the…